I recently had discussions with Joe (206 524 6625 ext 316) at Flo Scan regarding a meter for my truck. He said a Gallon Per Hour meter would cost me $575. He said they very seldom sell the meters to truck owners mostly to boaters. They used to sell a bunch to big rig owners but since the overhead MPG electronic gauges came out that market dried up. (I recently ran extensive tests on my factory overhead meter and and found the accuracy to range from 2% to 10% which isn't very trustworthy) Joe said one problem with installing them in a pickup is the two required stabilazation reservoirs are pretty large. I checked and I have plenty of room under my hood for the installation. I told Joe that if they changed the readout from "Gallons Per Hour" to "Miles Per Gallon" he would probably sell many more to us vehicle owners. Maybe if more of us call and express an interest it would happen

 

Wow for $575.00 you can buy a bunch of fuel, it would take a lifetime to get that thing to pay for itself. You would be better off just slowing down a little, that will get you all the fuel savings that are available anyway.

 

Why cant you hand calculate milage? Who CARES if the computer isnt accurate - lots of guys never look at their overhead computer anyway.

$575 will buy you a FASS or other high performamnce fuel modification which you need much more than an accurate milage calculation.

 

At least the price has come down, the Flo-Scans used to cost over $1000.
I would love to have one to check on the go gph but not even at the new price. Since mpgs are the combination of averages the hand method works just fine. The overhead may not be accurate but will tell you what your driving habits are doing for mpgs in a rough sort of way.

 

I've got a version of the Flo Scan in my 81 Formula Offshore Knife. Its Gas powered. The Flo Scan gives me Gallons per hour at a given speed and accounts for gallons actually used. Its highly accurate.

I guess by now they have figured a way to tell how much goes back to the tank with a diesel engine. With a Gas powered rig, gas goes in one direction, out the exhaust pipe, no tank return using carburation.

Dave

 

I had further conversation with Joe at Flo Scan. He made a mistake on the model of my engine and now that I told him it is an ISB he said the meter would need to be fuel temperature compensated and this requires a digital meter, least expensive model is $867. He also said the meters Flo Scan previously provided for Big Rigs "did display trip average and instantaneous MPG but we were forced out by electronic engine mfg's who offered a comparable device"